


Full Fathom Five

by blodwite



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, alive!shiba kaien, hollows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:21:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 5,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22691689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blodwite/pseuds/blodwite
Summary: Kaien shook, scratching at the mask that covered his face.He was a hollow.He wasn’t even Kaien anymore. Sure, he had the memories, the personality. The dominant soul that had won out was his but now he was more. Several thousand souls more, most likely. He was the conscious in control of the being that he was now.Or the one in which Aaroniero Arruruerie hadn't lied when he claimed to be Kaien Shiba.
Relationships: Shiba Kaien/Shiba Miyako
Comments: 15
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

Hunger.

His teeth sank deep into the black leather of the being next to him. The flesh ripped as he twisted his head, yanking back as he chewed his meal. It let out a screech of pain, thrashing for a moment before collapsing to the ground.

Flesh chewed, swallowed. And then he twisted to the side and tore into another.

A careful step over the squirming downed prey and the process continued.

Only recently had he become aware of the monotony. Tasteless leathery meal after leathery meal. It wasn’t filling, but he hungered. He had to eat.

Nothing filled the emptiness inside, though each bite was accompanied by a rush of power. Delicious energy suffused him as he yet again ripped into the flesh of his neighbor.

They would wail as his teeth shredded them. That was all they would do. Never fighting back, never even shuffling away from him.

They were mindless.

Unlike him.

He existed. He was more than an empty shell for all that he felt hollow. So he decimated the herd around him slowly.

This continued. Again and again. 

He would kill a group and then search for more. They were all he could eat, for he was the same. Large and towering, tough skin to prevent another’s teeth from puncturing flesh. Graceless and armless. It was impossible to hunt the smaller beings that would flit around their feet.

However some of the smaller ones could fly. Perhaps he could catch one?

It wasn’t something he had tried before, blinded by hunger as he had been.

He continued to eat the tall ones but now his eyes watched. Eagerly tracing the paths of winged hollows, hoping for one to fly too close.

Eventually one did.

Previous prey forgotten, he lunged forward. Teeth snapped and crushed the bone covering the thing’s face.

Blood gushed into his mouth, hot and delicious. Filled with that energy and power that he’d come to crave as much as their flesh. More power even than the tall, black ones.

There was too much, he realized. White light filled his vision before everything went black.

___________________

Slowly his eyes fluttered open.

Colored, shapeless masses loomed around him. Releasing a groan he squeezed his eyes shut. He reached a hand to rub at his eyes but paused.

Tentatively he traced the edge of the hard casing over his face. The surface was smooth. Cold. Holes for his eyes and a beak like protrusion where his mouth was. Fingertips trailed down to the little hook on the tip. Yes, definitely a beak.

He opened his mouth and discovered that the mask split open along with it. Of course. How else could he eat?

Breath labored, he climbed to his feet. Talons pierced the dirt below him as he kicked off the ground. Wings flapped and he took off.

Up.

He had to go up.

The talons of his hands sank into the earth above. He clawed his way into the crust as dirt gave way to sand. Soon enough he broke the surface, squirming his way out of his hole.

Collapsed onto his back, he gasped for air. A shiver raced down his spine as he stared up at the moon. 

The air was thick with reishi. More so than in soul society.

He cursed. Silently at first, then out loud.

Hands sank into his hair, only to freeze. The texture was wrong and he pulled… something out of his skull.

Turning over the sample in his hand he hissed. A feather. His hair had been replaced with feathers. Hell, there were feathers coating his arms. Presumably the rest of his body as well.

Glancing down he swore at the sight of his bird legs.

His arms were wings, complete with strange hands similar to a bat’s.

Kaien shook, scratching at the mask that covered his face.

He was a hollow. A fucking hollow.

He wasn’t even Kaien anymore. Sure, he had the memories, the personality. The dominant soul that had won out was his but now he was more. Several thousand souls more, most likely. He was the conscious in control of the being that he was now.

“Aciano Arroyo,” he muttered the name reluctantly.

A hollow’s name for a heartless monster.

Claws grasped the edge of the mask, knuckles straining with the pressure. He wanted to rip it off but he just… couldn’t.

Instinct, he supposed. Hollows were beings ruled by them after all. That was how he knew how to fly, how he’d been driven up to the surface through the sand like a freshly birthed animal. It was how he knew his name.

A faint roar echoed from somewhere in the desert.

There were stronger hollows up here. He knew it instinctively.

Hollows that he needed to eat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Head canon that hollows instinctively know their name that’s based on the souls that make up their being. Because no one has ever been named Aaroniero Arruruerie in the history of ever.
> 
> Aciano Arroyo was picked to be similar to Aaroniero’s, just less ridiculous. Also as a homage to his original name and Nejibana; Kaien = sea and swallow (bird) and Shiba = wave (the ocean) and kindness. Nejibana is a type of flower. Aciano is a blue bottle flower and Arroyo is a smalll river, in Spanish of course. Get ready for flower, bird, and water references galore! (I put too much thought into names...)


	2. Chapter 2

After a meal the urge to fill the gaping hole within himself eased. Oh, it was never gone. Not completely. It was an insidious thought at the back of his head, an itch on his psyche, but only for a short while after feeding. While blood was still fresh on his tongue.

Anytime else it was a demand that he couldn’t ignore or resist for long.

Aciano’s tongue flicked out, licking the blood off the edge of the beak of his mask. Aqua eyes looked on as the body of the hollow before him began to dissipate into reishi particles.

Soon the blood covering his own body would dissolve in the same manner. Convenient, that. There was little water in Hueco Mundo.

He breathed out a long, low sigh.

The shining silver reishi glowed in the silver light of the full moon. A color that, while subtle against the white sand, was beautiful.

His eyes closed.

Beauty wasn’t something a monster deserved.

_… a monster._

Aciano jumped back, eyes darting around for the source of the voice. Nothing was to be found and he could sense no spiritual pressure nearby.

After a final, weary glance around he vanished.

Body tense Aciano scanned his new surroundings. Finding nothing he settled down onto the sand.

Idly he wondered if all hollows lost their minds. Perhaps a side effect of having too many souls in one vessel.

At least if he was starting to hear voices he would no longer be all alone.

Although he didn’t think that’d be the case much longer either way.

The hunger, while still violent, was becoming easier to control. He hadn’t torn into that last few hollows until they dissolved.

A few bites of their flesh had satisfied him. Really that was all he needed. It was the only requirement for increasing his own power. Anymore was simple gluttony.

Soon he might be able to seek out companions.

If he could stand to be friendly in the presence of another hollow.

Climbing to his feet Aciano sighed again and went off to search for another meal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Each chapter has an undefined time skip unless otherwise stated.
> 
> These first few are going to be short for this reason.


	3. Chapter 3

It is difficult to tell time in a place of eternal darkness. Only the phases of the moon and the shape of the sand dunes change. Nothing grows, there is little wind, and the landscape stays much the same.

Sand dunes and rocky plains.

He has crossed them for what feels like eons. Searching for his next meal, occasionally exchanging words with a particularly nonviolent monster. He’s always tempted to eat even them but somehow manages to abstain.

Suddenly his entire body twitches as he catches the scent of blood on a gentle gust of wind. Head twisted to left, cocked slightly to one side. There was only the faintest trace of spiritual pressure, which meant the hollows were far.

A moment was all he took to consider if the effort was worth it.

Powerful legs kicked against the sand as he flapped his feathered arms. He flew high, eyes scanning below for any sign of the presumed struggle.

There was a certain difference to the scent that was odd. It was lighter, almost sweeter than the usual metallic, cold musk of other hollows.

With no air to assist in gliding so he had to flap his wings to stay afloat. It would have been quicker to sonido, but this way used less reiatsu.

Soon enough he found the source of the blood. 

Bodies were strewn about in the sand. Limbs in odd angles, sand soaked red in patches.

He stood frozen in the air, eyes wide.

Every body below was human in shape. The clothes were colorful, nothing like the uniforms of shinigami. They were not in anything one could find in soul society.

Stepping down next to a body in a burst of sonido, Aciano crouched down to better examine one.

Immediately he recoiled.

They were human.

Bodies of the still alive. Left to rot here in Hueco Mundo.

Eyes closed he had to take a moment before he could concentrate on whatever reiatsu was left behind.

Hollow, for certain, but strange. He had yet to feel a hollow with an energy that was this… erratic. Hollows were creatures of instinct but that didn’t mean they were without a certain logic.

These humans had had some amount of spiritual energy. The taste of it lingered on the back of his tongue like a forgotten memory. Aciano has never eaten a human soul, but the hollows that had made up his being certainly had.

There, underneath all that, were the faintest traces of shinigami reiatsu.

His head cocked to the side as he wondered just what the hell had happened here.

It was unheard of for a human body to be brought to Hueco Mundo when hollows could just swallow their souls. Shinigami hadn’t come here ever since that one failed mission to cut hollows out at the root a few centuries ago.

Had it been a few centuries?

Aciano didn’t know how long he’d been a hollow.

Shaking his head he stepped away. There was no way he was going to solve this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter was too short for my tastes so here’s an extra.
> 
> These are some of the discarded experiments of Aizen. I imagine during the process that resulted in White.
> 
> If you’re curious I imagine him looking like a harpy. Birds, ya know, for Kaien.


	4. Chapter 4

Unfortunately that wasn’t the only time he’d come across some strange things in the desert.

Hollows in human shapes with their masks torn. The few he’s seen don’t smell of food. They reek of pain and confusion. Swords in their pale hands, clenching at their masks in pain.

Incomplete beings.

He’d followed one once. It had wavered through the dunes, stumbling and muttering incoherently. It hadn’t been able to sense his presence, even when he had allowed his reiatsu to surge as a test.

Finally the thing had screamed at the black sky, prying the sword between the mask and its flesh. Fingers scratched at the hole through its chest. Eventually it collapsed and its body dissolved.

It had left him shaken.

Souls didn’t do that. They didn’t just dissolve from minor injuries.

After that he actively searched for such strange circumstances in between feedings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Aizen experiments. I like to think he dabbled with shinigamification before hollowfication because there’s less risk of getting caught. Of course, before the hogyoku’s completion that’s rather hard to accomplish.


	5. Chapter 5

The next time Aciano followed an interesting reiatsu signature he found himself at the end of a sword.

Well, a sword-like appendage. With hollows that was as close as one got.

He eyed the hollow at the end of the ‘blade’.

She was smaller than usual, with the most human appearance he’d yet seen. Not counting the odd maskless one. Her right arm was, or was encased in, a large, bulky sword. 

“Sorry,” he spoke after a moment’s consideration. His hands raised, fingers splayed in a way that he hoped indicated his lack of desire to attack her.

She held her ground, her aqua eyes staring him down.

He swallowed. The tip of her weapon was awfully close to his throat.

Without warning she swung her arm away.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, her tone flat.

Aciano sighed as he seemed to relax. Couldn’t trust that a hollow would stay docile for too long in his opinion.

“I followed your spiritual pressure. I haven’t felt anything like it before,” he told the truth, there was no reason to lie.

He had in fact felt traces of her reiatsu and followed it along the rocky cliffs and valleys. He hadn’t been to this area of Hueco Mundo before. What he had known was sand dune after sand dune. He’d spied weaker hollows but she had caught him off guard.

She made no reply or any motion to acknowledge his statement. Her eyes stayed locked onto his own, still waters running deep and all that.

Aciano could handle this for a few more moments before he had to fight the urge to fidget. Being devoured by a hollow and later emerging as its dominant consciousness had not altered his inability to stay still for long.

Suddenly her spiritual pressure rose, pressing down on him.

The grunt as he flinched was as involuntary as releasing his own energy from the tight bindings he usually trapped it in to counter.

She was strong! Easily rivaling the captains of seireitei.

Aciano lifted a winged arm to form a cero.

“Sung-Sun, Mila Rose, Apacci,” the female hollow spoke and he froze.

Twisting to follow her gaze he looked over his shoulder.

Laying on the sand under the weight of their combined energy were three more hollows. They panted and groaned as they struggled, unable to even twitch.

He hadn’t even noticed them, so focused he had been on the stronger hollow before.

The sword wielding lady restrained her spirit pressure and he followed suit, allowing the trio to gather their breath and stand up.

They seemed contrite, the lion and the deer immediately issuing apologies to Harribel-sama. However, the snake apologized for the behavior of the other two and this quickly deteriorated into an argument between all three.

Aciano had never observed such behavior among hollows before and watched in amused confusion.

“Forgive my comrades.”

He turned to the shark at her words. Hollows could have comrades? This was the first he’d seen of it. Perhaps…?

“It’s not a problem.” He winced a little at his own voice. He’d made a point of not speaking to avoid the hollow like reverberation.

The three behind him spoke in echos as well but Harribel, as they’d called her, possessed only a trace of the quality.

“You’re strong.” He said to break the silence that had settled between them again.

“Have you come to devour me then?” She asked. 

With an awkward chuckle, Aciano scratched at the back of his head. Feathers ruffled under his talons and he patted them back into place.

“I was just curious about your reiatsu.”

She blinked at that, the most expression he’d seen her make yet.

“You display more restraint than most hollows.” She informed him. “Even these three are eager to devour and grow stronger. If we meet again, your strength may be similar to my own.”

She stepped passed him, gathered her small band of female adjuchas, and trotted off through the rocky outcrops of Hueco Mundo.

He sighed and concluded that the hospitality of hollows included not holding another down while your companions fed on his flesh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A brief encounter with Harribel and her future fracción.


	6. Chapter 6

His thoughts drifted back to the blonde shark hollow with some frequency.

No hollow he’d met since had been as controlled, as human.

Not even himself.

Just as frequently as he thought of her and her subordinates he wondered about the strange things he’d seen in the desert. The maskless hollows and the dead mortals.

These topics occupied his thoughts even as he sank his talons into hollow flesh and devoured what he could. He was gaining strength and felt that he was edging close to something, he just didn’t know what.

What he tried really hard not to think about was how sad Kukaku, Ganju, and Uncle Isshin must have been when he died. How Rukia would carry her guilt until her own end. Ukitake must be swamped with paperwork, Kiyone and Sentaro did their best but, well they often hindered in their competition. His captain probably held close to his own guilt for letting him fight alone.

Aciano stared down at the water before him. It was a small spring, flowing out of a crack in a tall rock mass and down a few feet where it collected in a small pool and then sank slowly back into the ground.

It was a miniscule amount of water. Insignificant even, but it was the only water he’d yet found and he’d guard it with his life.

Not that he or other hollows even needed water.

It simply comforted him.

Recalled to him memories of Nejibana and other waters in his previous life.

So he’d made a habit of not leaving this area. If he did he never stayed away for long before he had the urge to come back.

He trailed his fingers through the water and tried desperately not to think about the fact that Miyako was a part of his soul collection.

He covered his eyes with his other hand. The mask was hard and cold against his hierro.

Why did he even bother?

She would never enter the soul cycle again unless he was purified.

Why couldn’t he go to the human world, find some poor shinigami on duty, and have them do just that?

He thought about it often enough. The way there was simple enough. Just open a garganta and step through the tear in the dimension. He could even go to Soul Society, where they were certain to be able to subdue him.

He just couldn’t.

Instinct, he supposed.

Hollows were beings of such, after all.

_...Kaien!_

Aciano jerked, hands raising to a defensive position as he looked around.

Nothing. Not even a trace of energy in the air.

Eyes narrowed he settled back down into his spot, feathers being meticulously soothed back into place.

He’d heard that voice before.

Tentatively he called out. _“Nejibana?”_

There was no answer.


	7. Chapter 7

Voices haunted Kaien.

His dreams when he would occasionally sleep were unpleasant. Filled with voices from the past.

Those were unfortunate and he avoided them as much as he possibly could. Not that hollows slept often, instinct dictated that they avoid such a vulnerable position.

It was worse when he heard them while awake. Ever since that one instance of her voice echoing in his mind, he imagined her everywhere.

He knew it wasn’t her, those sibilant whispers just at the edge of his hearing range.

_You are not a monster._

She whispered even as he pulled back from the newly gaping maw in the abdomen of a hollow. Blood dripped from his lips, from the long beak appendage of his mask. He cocked his head to one side, waiting to catch whatever else she might murmur.

Silence.

The hollow twitched under his claws and he resumed his meal.

Aciano let out a roar as claws raked against his side. Feathers floated gently to the ground as he lunged forward. Teeth snapped shut inches from his mask as the enemy hollow attempted to tear off his face.

The hollow had long appendages, oddly jointed like an insect. Its antenna quivered every time Aciano would move.

Clawing against the sand, Aciano fled the hollow and half a step behind him the insect followed. A hand grabbed a hold of his head and shoved him down. Sand flew around them and the hollow screamed out as it kneeled on Aciano’s back in victory.

Hot saliva splattered against his neck as the insect bent over, mouth stretched wide.

_Kaien!_

Her voice ripped through his mind and he kicked out at his attacker. Scrambling to his feet, he surged forward into the other hollow. His fangs sank into its outstretched limb and the armor like hierro cracked under his teeth.

Blood splattered onto the sand below them and Kaien, Aciano pressed his newfound advantage.

Teeth clenched like a vice he shoved into his enemy and together they toppled into the sand. Feathers flew up around them as claws widely swiped at his sides but he refused to release his hold.

Bone crunched between his jaws.

The hollow underneath him screamed, but this time it wasn’t in victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking ages to update this. I actually had this and like four more chapters written. However, the next one after those I hate how its happening so I kind of quit. You can hate me, I don't care.


	8. Chapter 8

Finally came the day the hollow Harribel had foreseen.

A small hollow, human in size, had invaded his small piece of Hueco Mundo. Its power had the same feeling as Harribel and reminded him of something he’d heard of long ago.

Vasto Lorde.

The rare specimen that was only heard of in rare books in Soul Society. No shinigami had battled one for millennia and he’d once heard a younger shinigami insist that they were myths meant to frighten recruits into behaving. They weren’t even covered by the academy’s curriculum, they were so rare.

There had been no warning.

He hadn’t felt its approach. The hollow spoke no words in greeting. No brandishing of weapons before the attack.

There was just the clear night sky and the backwards crescent of the moon nestled against the outline of the cliffside above.

Gentle, trickling water the only melody apart from his own quiet breathing.

He’d been dozing (and it still surprised him that hollows could sleep) when the dense pressure knocked the breath out of him.

Pressed into the sand, still dazed by sleep, Aciano thrashed about.

By the time he’d gathered enough sense to raise his own reiatsu in response, his attacker had appeared before him in a burst of sound.

A savage kick to the chest sent him through the air. Rolling in the sand until the rock wall behind him broke from the impact.

It took a few tries to get air back into his, only to cough. That crack had definitely been his ribs.

Before the hollow could attack again, Aciano sprang to his feet. Pain seared through his chest but he had to move.

Wings lightly spread and tail feathers fanned, he kicked off the ground to flip away from the Vasto Lorde’s next attack.

With a short burst of sonido Aciano appeared behind the brute, talons swiping down viciously.

To his surprise his swing was caught, the hollow’s hand curling around his wrist and yanking Aciano towards it.

Eyes narrowed, he jerked his hand upward. The grip didn’t break, not that that was surprising. The Vasto Lorde was strong.

“Bala.” Aciano muttered when his captured hand aligned with his opponent’s face.

The bright blue ball exploded against the bone mask and screeching the hollow released him.

With a quick jump forward, Aciano attempted to swipe through the shoulder of his enemy. The claws dug into flesh but left only three furrows.

He escaped with sonido before the Vasto Lorde could backhand him across the face.

 _“I can’t break through his hierro.”_ Aciano thought to himself as he cursed under his breath. He circled around the hollow, trying to stay out of his attack range.

The red cero that suddenly crashed into his face sent him careening head over heels to thud against the sand.

He groaned, blinking the grit out of his eyes as he tried to climb back to his feet. Coughing uncontrollably, he knew blood soaked the sand below him. He could taste it on his tongue.

A soft static boom was his only warning before the Vasto Lorde gripped his throat and lifted him into the air.

Thrashing his feet and clawing at the grip did nothing to release him.

The jagged teeth of the mask before him split open, the tongue lolling out to trace a long, wet trail through the feathers of his chest.

Aciano cursed. He increased his struggle, kicking out at the immovable body before him. There was no way this bastard was going to devour him!

Raising one foot as high as it could go Aciano struck at the mask of the monster holding him. The talons of his toes caught on the bone and a chunk of it flew off.

His body hit the ground with a thud as the Vasto Lorde reared back screaming.

Vision blurred and his cheat wheezed with every breath but he had to get up. He had to finish this.

He jumped onto the still screaming hollow and pried its hands away from the crack in the mask. Pinning the arms of a thrashing Vasto Lorde was no small feat but he only needed a moment.

There!

Both hands were finally pulled away from its face and Aciano slammed his beaked mask down into the hollow’s yellow eye.

Quickly he pecked once, twice and then jumped back with his prize.

The Vasto Lorde’s flailing claws slashed through Aciano’s leg and severed it, but he had already swallowed the eye.

With it came a portion of the hollow’s dense spiritual pressure.

The bleeding of his injuries sluggishly came to a stop as he dodged blows from the blindly attaching hollow. Aciano was able to grab one of its arms and he flipped the Vasto Lorde over his shoulder and into the sand.

He placed one clawed, bird foot on the monster’s chest to hold it down and spoke quietly.

“Cero.”

After the light burst faded, Aciano dropped to his knees. His breath came in shuttering stops and he wanted desperately to just fall over.

Vision ominously dim, he leaned forward and sank his teeth through the hierro and into the flesh of the Vasto Lorde.

Power swirled deliciously through his body as he swallowed. It almost filled the empty hole where his heart once has been, before he left it with Rukia and died, so he once again tore into the dying hollow beneath him.

Perhaps this meal would restore some part of him that was missing?

It felt like it could.

Aciano ate until the increasing reiatsu he absorbed whited his vision and he lost consciousness.

The sand stuck to his eyelids like glue when next he tried to open them. Rubbing and blinking he desperately worked until finally he could open them.

Swiveling his head in both directions, Aciano tried to place where he was. He couldn’t remember what he was doing or even falling asleep.

Close by the quiet trickle of water calmed him.

Oh. He was… at the closest he could get to home.

The little valley with the tiny spring.

Sitting up, Aciano brushed the sand off of his legs. A quick glance down caused him to jerk back. The sight of his own arm had startled him!

White, featherless skin now covered both arms. The fingers of his hands still tapered into sharp talons but he wasn’t going to complain about the change.

Shakily he climbed to his feet.

Sand spilled around him and he wondered just how long he’d been laying on the ground.

Long human shaped legs stretched out below him. His feet were still vaguely bird shaped, but gone was the odd backwards bend below his knees.

He was still highly feathered, the blue feathers dark next to the bleached skin.

Slowly he explored the weight on his back. Wings slowly extended to their full width and he brushed a hand backwards against the down.

Wings like a tengu instead of some strange bird person demon. The tail was gone but the bird skull mask over his head was the same.

Claws trailed through his hair, only occasionally encountering a feather.

All in all a more humanoid appearance.

To be expected from a Vasto Lorde he supposed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I take forever. I decided I would just write something even if I don’t exactly like the way it turns out.
> 
> Any thoughts for the lineup for the Espada? Of course we’ve got Dordoni, Cirucci, and Gantenbainne. I’m pretty sure they changed a lot, but I don’t have the energy to write a dozen position changes. Neliel, naturally will be present. Barragan I think was around at the beginning despite someone once saying Aaroniero was the last of the first. Luppi, if I remember correctly, was once an Espada before being demoted then promoted again. That still leaves 3 vacant positions. So who should be there??


	9. Chapter 9

The emptiness inside wasn’t gone. It just felt less… aching. He had shoved it full of power and the souls of countless other people. That had to count for something.

This new free time he filled with roaming, exploring farther and farther away from his little valley now that not many in Hueco Mundo could challenge him.

But right now he was nestled beside the stream. Plumage warmly pressed against his back, eyes closed as he meditated to the sound of flowing water.

_Kaien!_

The yell that echoed through his psyche caused him to flinch.

Now he knew what it was.

 _“Nejibana?”_ He called out silently. She hadn’t heard him before, if it really was her and he wasn’t just imagining her voice.

_Finally, you can hear me!_

Curiously she sounded more angry than joyous at what should have been an impossible reunion.

_You utter fool!_

Ah, there it was.

_How dare you act so stupidly. So selfishly! Throwing yourself at a hollow in such a manner. Why did I even bother teaching you?! Waste so much time with you. Do you think Miyako wanted that? That she’s happy that you threw yourself away in such a thoughtless manner! No. She certainly isn’t. And what you put poor Rukia through!— Why I should!— you idiot!_

The sword spirit, the partner of his soul, trailed off in her tirade. She seemed at a loss at how to further expound on him the error of his ways.

Aciano sighed, eyes opening a little as he shifted to gaze at the water.

_“I’m sorry, Nejibana. I’ve had a lot of time to think about that… but I haven’t. It’s done. I can’t change the past and if I’m honest I wouldn’t.”_

_I know._

He leaned back and basked in the presence of his past life’s soul partner. Her reiatsu surged within and around him in gentle waves.

It was a little darker now. Tainted with hollow energy, but she felt the same. Unmistakably a shinigami’s zanpakuto. 

_“How is this possible?”_ He asked her.

_I don’t know. When that hollow shattered me I wasn’t destroyed. It merely displaced me into its own mindspace. I would have surely died by being severed from your soul, however it subsequently devoured you as well. Perhaps our energies recombined within the hollow, Kaien?_

He made a small noise of acknowledgement as he considered this.

After a long silence he replied.

_“It’s Aciano Arroyo now.”_

There was a moment before soft pearls of laughter sounded.

_You’ll always be Kaien Shiba to me._

Though it couldn’t be seen beneath his mask, Aciano smiled.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added two chapters, so make sure you read chapter 9 if you haven't already. They were both short chapters, but I didn't feel like I should combine them.

Having Nejibana back in his head brought a large amount of peace.

Though often his silent companion in the eternal night she would occasionally provide insight or simply berate some perceived slight in his behavior.

She was far more company than he’d had before and he was grateful.

He left the little valley behind and began to wander aimlessly again. Like he had in the beginning.

Stepping carefully through the sand, Aciano gazed up to the top of the tall rock spire next to him. There was a collection of them in this little corner of Hueco Mundo. Tall towers reaching up toward the black sky.

Movement at his peripheral caught his attention. A hollow scurried from one spire to the next. It was a weak thing, not even a menos grande, judging by his quick pesquisa scan.

He was dimly aware of it ripping open a garganta to escape into the human world.

Hollows such as that one would occasionally flee from his presence.

_Kaien._

At Nejibana’s warning he scanned his surroundings once again.

There behind him, high up on a spire stood a man.

A man whose spirit pressure was unmistakably that of a shinigami.

Aciano turned to fully face him, staring with eyes widened behind his mask. 

What was a shinigami doing here? Was that why the hollow was fleeing?

For a long moment the two stared at each other. Neither moving. And then the shinigami leaped off the edge to land lightly on his feet at the base of the spire.

Aciano tensed at the movement, shifting one foot subtly into a wider stance.

“I’m not going to fight you, hollow-san.” He spoke with a wide, tooth filled grin. His hands were raised, palms out, and he was apparently fearless for he continued to approach. A white haori marked him as a captain of the gotei-13.

The man’s slitted eyes were off putting even for a hollow. Aciano had to resist the urge to step back.

He whistled lowly, circling around the Vasto Lorde in measured steps. Aciano rotated on his heel in order to always face the strange shinigami.

“You’re strong! Just what I was lookin’ for. I have a proposition for ya, hollow-san.” The shinigami said as he finally came to a halt.

“A proposition?” Aciano echoed.

“Yeah. It’s simple, ya see? Come work for my boss and he’ll make you stronger! So, whatcha say?”

“And if I refuse?”

“Weeell, I'd have to kill ya.” The shinigami said, his grin growing even wider. “Just kidding!”

Aciano did not think that he was joking in the slightest. Perhaps he could take him in a fight but the captain was strong as well. It was not a risk he was willing to take.

There was something else that was bothering him. The source of the strange things he had seen… Could this be it?

“I accept.”

The strange shinigami’s eyes opened slightly. “Really? You’re the first to agree! I had to kill everyone else that I asked.”


End file.
